The National AIDS Council says it is developing strategies that will increase access to treatment for gays and lesbians that are living with HIV in Zambia.
NAC Director of Programmes Harold Witola said the Council has since applied for funds from the Global Fund to ensure that gays and lesbians in Zambia have access to medical services.
In an interview, NAC Director of Programmes Harold Witola said health care providers will undergo re-training on how to administer health services to people of different sexual orientation.
‘If we are fortunate that we get the support that we have applied for from the Global Funds, we should be seeing a bit of activity going into next year in terms of agreeing with service providers, retraining our service providers because it is this notion that these people don’t exist or they are a figment of peoples imagination and that some health workers are really not prepared when they finally meet these people,’ Dr Witola said.
He added, ‘We really need to retrain and reorient our health care providers so that they alert that these people do exist and that they have challenges and that their needs are slightly different from the needs of the general population and even the way we approach them is slightly different but the bottom line is that it is a human being life just like any other human being.’
Dr. Witola has stressed that the provision of health services is not meant to promote homosexuality but to provide quality health services irrespective of one’s sexual orientation.
‘One thing i should emphasise is that as NAC, we don’t promote the lifestyle, or for instance gayism, lesbianism or whatever it is that is not our business, we don’t promote the lifestyle but we promote public health approach and you know public health is a human right,’ he said.
Dr Witola said, ‘Everyone has the right to quality health care services, it doesn’t matter who they are, do for us, that is our concern that we will not let people be ravaged by infection because we are differently oriented and we bury our heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is happening, suppose you discover that it is your son, suppose it is your daughter getting married to such a one.’
We don’t acknowledge such as Christians! We are not even supposed talk about such, a human should not behave like animals. Let us encourage the lost to repent and turn back to God. Homosexuality is SIN!
Why are you not targeting Wynter kabimba and Davis Chama for Hiv testing? These two make statements which are not healthy for human ears
Why don’t you just keep your silly religious beliefs to one side for once!!
How do lesbians contract virus, from kissing? For gays LT gave us those stories in Kapiri and Mongu, we get it.
this is not constructive criticism. Your are a hypocrite..!as a christian you should not judge and condemn, what a personal chooses to do in there privacy is between him/her and God, as long as it does not engender you in anyway.Love your neighbor did not say love straight people.preach repentance and not hatred.homosexuality is sin! yes, and there is only one sin and that is sin.homosexuals sin in a different way than you, but as long as you sin you and the homosexuals are in the same club friend.
Scientists in the United Kingdom have confirmed the existence of a new sexually transmitted disease called MYCOPLASMA GENITALIUM.
The study found that men of black ethnicity were more likely to test positive for MG and showed that the prevalence of the disease was 1.2 per cent in men and 1.3 per cent in women.
It also found that for both men and women, the disease was strongly associated with reporting risk behaviours such as increasing the number of total and new partners and unsafe sex in the past year.
nice one just one way of encouraging Homosexuality.
I believe every Zambian receive the same health care every does with no need to know there sexual orientation.
Tell the truth NAC whats your agenda here.
“he said the Council has since applied for funds from the Global Fund to ensure that gays and lesbians in Zambia have access to medical services.”
question
1. Are they currently denied medical services?
said health care providers will undergo re-training on how to administer health services to people of different sexual orientation.
question
2.How should they be treated? do doctors ask whether you are gay or not?
3. Funds don’t come free or cheap, tell us what exactly you need to do for you to have those funds? make it legal in Zambia, do a sensitization campaign that we embrace gay ism in Zambia?
Dr. ask for money from another vote say putting more people on ARVs, prevention of HIV from mother to child etc.
You are trading on a very slippery grounds.
I am disappointed…
99% HIV infected Zambians are married couples and single hetrosexuals.
with NAC.
‘One thing i should emphasise is that as NAC, we don’t promote the lifestyle, or for instance gayism, lesbianism or whatever it is that is not our business, we don’t promote the lifestyle but we promote public health approach and you know public health is a human right,’ he said.
YOU ARE ACTUALLY PROMOTING SUCH LIFESTYLE.
And Bishop Joshua Banda is still NAC Chairman?? Edgar should intervene on this, these USAID funded programs are the ones bringing such barbaric things to Zambia
Actually Dr. Witola, should be arrested for promoting disgusting behaviours! Let Zambia Police arrest this foolish Doctor. If the Zambian Constitution does not recognize homosexuality, how do you expect the Government to fund it? Dr. Witola, you must be out of your mind. All the best treating yourself.
Is being in such status/condition considered normal in African setups, I wonder? Let’s take a leaf from Mugabe and Muzeveni for their bravery in the face of tremendous pressure from all manner of non-African leaders.
This is a good move…there is utterly no need to stigmatise people just because of their sexual preferances!!
the so called DR witola is lost with his education, how can you support such a thing, please be ashamed of yourself, or maybe you are trading your soul? another Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
ROMANS 1:26
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
ROMANS 1:27
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
ROMANS 1:28
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge,…
Black Christian faith is a remnant of subjugation and enslavement just as it was for the pilgrims. Religion is a tool used by those that seek to oppress and manipulate others to justify their authority to enslave. Sadly, in this case it is being used by black people to enslave other black people and gain social advantage. Science has revealed a much deeper connection between us and all living things. It reveals that what seem like great differences are actually very small. It shows us how interconnected we are and the common fabric from which we are woven. It has revealed how vast the cosmos is and that it is a story so old and deep that we have only just begun to dust off the cover and peer at the chapter titles and it is stranger than anyone had imagined. It explains why religious…
Zambians, LGBT- Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders is a reality. I was amazed last month to highlight a christian approach opposing blog on the same subject in a Japanese daily when all hell broke loose. All fellow bloggers cast unpalatables on me to a point where the management erased my blog to ease the tension. By our faiths, they are wrong but what next on sexual orientation and gender identity? I came to realise that LGBT is a large community demanding their rights. Lets give them a human approach as we learn how to go about it in these end times days.
Ati Christian, why is it that almost all HIV people are Normal people. who had sex with the apposite sex mostly outside marriage.
Heterosexual have cost the country million in ARV,
Everyone has the right to good health.
i better stand with the word of God than to compromise even if the whole world is against me!
The reason black people are mostly christian is because it was beaten into us and used to keep us down.?
‘Black Christian’ is the most ironic statement in human history. Why? YOU have adopted the religion of the slavemasters – the brutal savages and merciless killers – and are now even more zealous than them.?
It seems the NAC is trying to raise money from rich donors by stooping so low that they will end up destroying the very fabric that makes us proud Africans! How can they support individuals that desire to be lower than dogs?
NAC getting money from rich homosexual donors! Soon they will be shaking hands- think twice before offering your hand to a NAC official!
I was a celibate, then I tested pu.s.sy bwana. I felt like flying, uchimuntunta ati pa pamutu. I can’t go to the sewer, never! never, never …
Rubbish! why should we change because of a minorities sexual preference? Who cares who you sleep with keep it to your self does one announce that My husband is man when they go to hospital? Please NAC do not bow to donor pressure. Zambia does not discriminate against gays it is not our culture period and the international community should respect that.
IFYO BA NAC FYABUPUBA STOP IT,IF YOU HAVE RUN OUT OF FUNDS AND IDEAS BETTER YOU KEEP QUITE BEFORE YOU GO TO HELL WITH THE SAME ROTTEN MONIES.
EDGAR LUNGU IS BIZZY BUILDING A CATHEDRAL AND YOURSELVES ALSO BIZZY LOOOKING FOR SATANIC SUPPORT? UBO NIBUKASAKA YOU HAVE ASHAMED ME.
As usual, Zambians are drawing out the Bible. For your information, LGBTs are many and yes they are scared of getting health services because sometimes the questions medical personel ask may out them. Some are transgenders and by their appearance, they are obvious to all. Imagine them trying to seek health services and the nurse or doctor asking if they are male or female! Or a gay man who has anal warts. How does he explain how he got it to the doctor? Further, couple testing for LGBTI couples is a risk for fear of getting outed. So by sensitising health workers, NAC will ensure they provide services devoid of discrimination. This is important for the attainment of zero infection goal. Whether you like it or not, hold on to the Bible or culture, these people exist. They do not live under…
You no longer live in a Christian country.. You have been invaded by “ninja’s”
You no longer live in a Christian country.. You are now surrounded by “ninja’s” in black robes that want to take over the whoe world
A good move.
I contracted HIV while fishing at Lake Kashiba in the 1980’s. I’m abroad where I have access to free ARV’s. I hope the schoolboys I slept with in Ndola Rural can have treatment now.
Congratulations to NAC! At long lasts NAC is acting as a real public health institution responding to evidence and not popular sentiments. LGBTIs do exist in Zambia. But because of the hostile environment they pretend and live like any normal person. Gay men marry and have girl friends like every other heteral sexual man. So whether we plead Christianity or illegality the truth of the matter is that gays are at a higher risk of HIV infection and the general population is INTERACTING with them SEXUALITY. It would be a public health tragedy for NAC and MOH not to put in place innovative interventions to reach out to this high risk group whose needs may be slightly different. An STI for gays may not be found in a ‘normal’ place.
The problem we have in Zambia is that everyone wants to…
KEEP ZAMBIA CLEAN. SEND ALL GAY PEOPLE TO SOUTH AFRICA!!!!
CHRISTIAN NATION my foot.This sane christian nation was named by a thief. He knew he destroyed many things and he found a way of going loose. And he fooled everyone. Today Politian’s are using the same”christian nation ” to destroy our land. You ask for how funds are being used a politician tells you lets pray and you forget about it. Lets not put God into foolish things. LGBT exist people exist, will exist and used to exist. Homosexual in Animal kingdom exists. Homosexual, drinking beer or alcohol, lying, jealousy, gossiping, killing, envy, hypocrisy, self righteousness, adultery and sex out side marriage are all sins.Any who does not do all these sins let him reply. And he who say does not sin is a liar and liars will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who judge will be judged…
The number of confusing negative reactions stem from deep seated bigotry and ignorance. HIV and AIDS do not choose who to infect and affect. Sexual orientation and gender identity or expression are easily misconceived to only include gays and lesbians but also also include the majority heterosexual persons. Health status is a prohibited grounds for discrimination and that is what NAC is also trying to explain to the nation. The same is true of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
I should add that human sexuality is no longer a taboo or controversial subject to discuss in the public domain. Sexuality is not donated. Sexuality is part of every single Zambia regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Because of this knowledge that many Zambians…
From most of the views above I believe MOH and NAC should start by educating the high population of illiterate people that prefer to live in a fantasy than reality. People a fantasy is something u wish was, reality on the other hand is something present wether u like it or not or whether you are ready to adapt or not.